We had to say goodbye to this sweet girl today, and we’re heartbroken. She was a vital part of our family for 13 days shy of 15 years. Love and hug your furry family members. It goes so fast.
We’ve known this day was coming. That hasn’t made it any easier, but it has helped us prepare. We were told she would not be with us much longer 2 years ago this month. We’re immensely grateful that we got more time with her than we expected.
Our beautiful girl left us to go be part of everything while our loving arms were wrapped around her frail body. She was a miraculous creature and she had a good life with us. We’re proud of that. Not letting them suffer is the last act of love you can do for them.
Bella crossed the bridge peacefully on March 30, 2026.
Cindy and I were watching The Late Show with Stephen Colbert a couple of weeks ago and he had Jimmy Fallon on as a guest. It’s easy to see that these two, as well as most of the other late night talk show hosts, are friends. At the end of the interview Jimmy serenades Stephen to the tune of “My Way” and Cindy and I were cracking up, but also a little sad.
Maybe, if you haven’t seen it yet, you might have a similar reaction too.
The link below is to the entire extended interview, but if you want you can skip to the 11:40 mark to see and hear just the song.
It’s official, I have the old man’s disease, better known as Gout!
After a few weeks of bad joint pain alternating between my right and left foot, I finally took Cindy’s nagging advice and went to an urgent care center this morning.
The doctor (she had an awesome British accent) listened to my symptoms, examined my swollen, discolored big toe joint on my left foot and diagnosed exactly what Cindy had suggested a couple of weeks ago; I have the old man’s disease known as gout!
I have been prescribed a steroid (which will raise my blood sugar levels, but it can’t be helped), a strong pain reliever, and told to stay off my feet as much as possible. I’d already been doing that for a few days as much as I could and it helped reduce the swelling/pain, but not much. Anyway, now Cindy gets to wait on me hand and FOOT (pun intended) a little longer.
I’m trying to figure out exactly what caused mine. I don’t drink much beer (hell, if I have two a year that’s a lot), our red meat intake is not excessive and neither of us eat shellfish. These are three of the top causes of a rise in uric acid which is what results in gout. However, diabetics and those with kidney issues can be predisposed to getting gout, and I fit into both those categories. But, as the doctor told us, it can also be just a little of one of those foods or some other food that I may be sensitive to. Or it could be genetics though I don’t recall either of my parents (men get it more than women, but post-menopausal women can develop it also) ever having said they had gout.
So, I will probably have to get my PCP to prescribe a preventative medication in order to stop having these painful attacks. But I have to wait until a couple of weeks after this bout has subsided because the doctor said they don’t work while the flare-up is happening.
When I was a kid and heard of someone with gout, I imagined some decrepit old person with barely any time left on this earth. But I don’t feel old and decrepit and I hope I have more than a little time left in this old world.
It just goes to show what time and perspective can do to change your view.
And now I totally understand what Charles Dickens meant when he wrote, “Gout introduces you to a variety of new sensations which otherwise would be closed to you.”
For my part, I would have rather skipped the introduction to gout.
Reading comic books for half my life and watching superhero movies the other half made me a Galactus-level winner of the SFX Magazine Fantastic Four quiz!
We watched “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” the other night and his guest was Ian McKellen. That in and of itself made the show more wonderful than usual. But, what was even more startling was to find out that McKellen had, earlier in his career, performed a part of a play where Shakespeare addresses immigration some 400 years ago. In fact, he performed it from memory right there on the stage of The Ed Sullivan Theater.
Here’s a video of Sir Ian McKellen performing that part of the play. It’s stirring and touching and amazing all at the same time.
As I was eating breakfast this morning, Cindy, sitting across from me at the dinette said, “Oh, the guy who sang ‘Joy To The World’ passed away.” That “guy” was Chuck Negron, member of one of the greatest rock groups of all time, Three Dog Night. He passed away yesterday at the age of 83 due to “complications from heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease…”
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In my mid-to-late teens, Three Dog Night was one of the most prolific rock, soft rock, and pop rock bands of the day as well as one of my favorites. From the time I was 14 until I was 20 (1969-1975), the band had 21 Billboard Hot 100 Top 40 hits, with 3 of those hitting the number 1 spot.
I remember in 1970, when I was 14 going on 15, sitting on the bus going to high school with my earphones in and my transistor radio on (so I didn’t have to interact with the other students) listening to “Mama Told Me Not To Come” and “Out In The Country”, both hits that year, on station WQAM (560 AM). Today that station is a sports format broadcaster, but back then it was Miami’s premiere Top 40 radio station.
I also remember reading back then that the origin of the band’s name was based on the fact that Aboriginal Australians would, on cold nights, sleep with one Dingo (a native species of wild dog) to keep warm. If the night was really cold they would sleep with two and if the night was freezing cold then it was a “three dog night” for them. My weird teen brain thought that was a cool thing to base your band name on, but today I STILL think that so maybe I haven’t grown much beyond my 15-year old self.
In addition to the two listed above, Three Dog Night had SO many great songs; “Joy to the World”, “One”, “Never Been To Spain”, “An Old Fashioned Love Song”, “Black and White”, “Eli’s Coming”, “Easy To Be Hard”, “Pieces of April”, “Celebrate”, “The Family Of Man”, “Liar” and others.
But I think MY favorite of ALL their songs is “Shambala” as it captured, to me at least, the feeling of the time which was that we were striving for a better world for all mankind. Plus I just liked the melody.
However, you also just can’t help but smile when you hear Chuck Negron belt out “Jeremiah was a bullfrog” at the beginning of “Joy To The World” and so with his passing he will be greatly missed.
Rest In Peace, Chuck Negron. Hope you found your Shambala.
Today, January 31st, is observed as National Hot Chocolate Day and I’m all in for it. Especially in the cold weather we’re experiencing.
I’m not a huge fan of hot drinks (with the exception of a hot toddy, lol). In fact, the only other two kinds I drink are hot Hibiscus Tea because Cindy says it helps lower my blood pressure, and hot chocolate. Not hot cocoa, hot chocolate. I prefer the fuller body and flavor of hot chocolate over hot cocoa.
And no marshmallows (yuck!), mini or regular size. I will occasionally enjoy some whipped cream on top.
This drawing of Superman enjoying a nice cup of hot chocolate in his Fortress of Solitude with his boots and cape off? Well, that’s how I feel when Cindy whips me up a nice hot chocolate and serves it to me in my Superman mug.
Ahhhhh….
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Today, January 29th, is a day made for yours truly and all my other ill-tempered friends; it’s Curmudgeons Day!
You can read all about how the history of the day at this link.
Several years ago, when I was deployed to New Jersey for disaster response to Superstorm Sandy, one of my staff members awarded me (as a joke, of course) an official certificate declaring that I was a member in good standing of the International Society of Curmudgeons.
I saw this on Mark Evanier’s blog a couple of weeks ago and thought I’d take my shot at rating the places I’ve eaten at on the list.
So, rather than just a straightforward yes or no as to which places I’ve eaten at like the graphic asks, I’m going to follow Evanier’s lead and use colored checkmarks as the following indicators:
No checkmark – I’ve never eaten at that place.
Green checkmark – I’ve eaten there and would go back without hesitation.
Yellow checkmark – I’ve eaten there and would go back IF there was no better place nearby to eat at.
Red checkmark – I’ve eaten there and would go hungry before I’d go back there.
And yes, Baskin-Robbins is spelled wrong and Domino’s, Denny’s and Applebee’s are all missing their apostrophes. It grates my grammar sensibilities, but it’s a graphic image; you take what you can get.
